Areola gaining importance at Real Madrid

It was a straight swap. Keylor Navas took a flight from Madrid to Paris while Areola went the other way. It looked a quick fix due to the absence of a tried and trusted second choice goalie behind Courtois. But the reality is that Areola has been getting more and more game time under Zidane. 

The clearest proof of that was in the last La Liga game in which the French keeper only had to intervene once, but it was to save two points against a battling Alaves side. Zidane has decided to make rotations and Zidane has another option at his disposal despite Courtois being the number one. 

According to 'AS', the French goalkeeper will continue to get games under Zidane. The idea is for him to be in the net for the Copa del Rey encounter, the dead Champions League match in Brugge and for some league matches. 

The bad news for the Real Madrid coach is that the loan deal expires at the end of the season and there is no option to buy him. Areola will return to PSG and it looks like Andriy Lunin, currently on loan at Valladolid, will become the new sub GK.